Archive By Section - State, National

ATLANTA - Students and teachers across central Georgia welcomed a snow day Monday after winter weather blanketed the state on the first day of March.

The rare March snowstorm closed schools, caused traffic accidents, canceled church services and knocked out electricity to thousands of homes as it moved across Georgia on Sunday. Authorities reported no fatalities or serious injuries from the ice and snow, which sent trees crashing across roadways and onto power lines.

ATLANTA - The Georgia Transportation Board voted 9-3 Thursday to fire Commissioner Gena Evans, citing a need for a change at the department troubled by criticism of its leadership and prompting a rebuke from Gov. Sonny Perdue.

The board named department chief engineer Gerald Ross interim commissioner and said it will soon begin a national search for a replacement.

WASHINGTON, DC - In directing nearly $1 million in funding for Georgia's portion of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Congress affirmed a recent study by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute that the channel is essential to Coastal Georgia's economy. Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1), who helped secure the funding, says it will be used to alleviate silting which has caused transit boaters to avoid the area.

"Coastal Georgia has been losing lots of revenue as transit boaters bypass us on the way to Florida," Congressman Kingston said. "If you're moving your yacht from New York to ...

ATLANTA - The Georgia attorney general's office says the execution of a man convicted in the 1986 fatal stabbing of a St. Simons woman has been scheduled for March 10.

The attorney general's office says Robert Newland will be executed by lethal injection at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. He was convicted and sentenced to die in 1987 for the fatal stabbing of his neighbor, 27-year-old Carol Sanders Beatty. She was killed in the garden of her home.

ATLANTA - Grappling with the worst deficit in Georgia's history, the House budget-writing panel on Wednesday approved an $18.9 billion spending plan that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money into Medicaid and education.

Plummeting state tax collections have ripped a giant hole in the state's revenues. The budget approved on Wednesday by a voice vote in the House Appropriations Committee slashes $2.6 billion in state revenues for the current fiscal year.

ATLANTA - Drought conditions have returned to much of Georgia, and the state's climatologist is warning it could get worse.

State climatologist David Stooksbury said Wednesday that drought has returned to many parts of the state that had emerged from dry conditions last year, including swaths of south Georgia. Some 102 counties are in moderate drought, and parts of northeast Georgia are still mired in "severe" and "extreme" conditions.

ATLANTA - Few proposals this legislative session have sparked as much acrimony as a Senate measure that paves the way for Georgia Power to begin charging ratepayers early for a $14 billion nuclear expansion.

The plan, which would effectively increase an average Georgia Power customer's monthly electric bill by about $1.30 starting in 2011, passed the Senate last week. But critics hope they can cripple - or at least delay - the measure as it works its way through the House.

Backers of a measure to allow Georgia stores to sell booze on the Sabbath launched a fresh push on Wednesday, arguing the state's struggling economy could use the extra revenue. They are also looking to link the bill this year with one that would crack down on those who sell alcohol to minors.

ATLANTA - Georgia will find the money for a homeowner tax break after all.

Gov. Sonny Perdue on Tuesday signed legislation on Tuesday designed to funnel $428 million in state dollars to the homeowner tax relief grant this year. The grant is worth about $200 to $300 per household.

ATLANTA - The Georgia Senate handed homeowners a mixed bag with two property tax bills that cleared the chamber Friday.

One would double the statewide homestead exemption. The second would fund a state property tax break worth about $200 to $300 per household this year but could scrap the state-funded grants in future fiscal years.

SAVANNAH - A year after he escaped badly burned from a huge blast at the nation's second-largest sugar refinery, Jamie Butler still needs physical therapy once a day to stretch the skin grafts on his arms, hands and legs.

He still takes painkillers. And he needs steroid injections to reduce scarring on his face, now covered by a black mask that applies healing pressure to the skin.

ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia House has voted to adjourn in late March and possibly return in late June to give lawmakers flexibility to deal with a possible federal economic stimulus package.

The measure approved Friday allows them to meet three days a week through March 25 and then come back in late June if they need to amend their spending plan. Lawmakers are bound to a 40-day legislative session but don't have to meet consecutively.